Mail catcher and deliverer.



No; 897,154. PATENTED AUG. 25, 1908.

A. 0. ROMMEL.

MAIL GATGHER AND DELIVERER! APPLIOATIQNII-LED JUNE 9, 1908.

T OrnmgK 1n: NORRIS PETERS cm, WASHINGTON, o. c

ARTHUR O. ROMMEL, OF ATKINSON, INDIANA.

MAIL CATCHER AND DELIVERER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 25, 1908.

Application filed June 9, 1908. Serial No. 437,497.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR O. RoMMEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at- Atkinson, in the county of Benton and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail Catchers and Deliverers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. v

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in mail catchers and deliverers and it is an object of the invention to provide a novel device of this character wherein a mail bag may be conveniently delivered from a passing car to a crane and a second bag may be held by the crane for delivery to the car without in any possible way interferin with the first named bag. 1

It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel delivering frame for a car that is movable with relation to the car so that under ordinary circumstances the delivery frame may be contained within the car.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel delivery crane, said crane being rotatably mounted on a base and provided with means whereby it will be effectually held against rotation.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel device of this character which will be simple'in construction, efficient and advantageous in practice and comparatively inexpensive to manufacture.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists of the details of construction and in the novel arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more particularly referred to.

In describing the invention in detail, ref erence will be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which,

Figure 1 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section illustrating the invention, and, Fig. 2 is a view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

In the drawing, 1 denotes a car having the door-way 2. To one side of this door-way is affixed the frame 3 through which is adapted to pass the delivery frame 4 which is of approximately a U-shape, the free ends of the frame being adapted to project out- .these flanges wardly of the car when in operative position and are provided with fiat spring hooks 5 to engage suitable fastening means 6 on the ends of a mail bag 7. Within the frame 3 are mounted the rollers 8 on which the stems of the frame 4 rest and travel and the lower end of the base of the frame 3 is provided with a roller 9 adapted to contact with the floor of the car. This base 10 of the frame is also provided with a handle or hand grasp 11 to facilitate the proper movement of the frame 4. To hold the frame 4 in operative position the top of the frame 3 has affixed thereto the spring 12 which terminates in the hooked member 13 adapted to engage the upper corner of the frame 4 as is believed to be clearly obvious in Fig. 1. When the frame 4 is not in use the spring 12 is freed from the said frame 4 when said frame 4 can be readily withdrawn in the car and conveniently stored within a minimum of space.

The bag 7 held by the frame 4 is adapted to be caught by one side of the double fork 14 which is formed of one solid piece of ma terial and is provided with a central opening 15 through which is adapted to pass an upright arm 16 arranged at right angles to a beam '17 projecting horizontally from the mast 18 of the crane proper. It is an essential feature of the invention that the double fork 14 be formed of one solid piece of material as 'it has been fully demonstrated in practice that the possibility of injury to the fork is reduced to a minimum. The mast 18 has also projecting therefrom parallel with the beam 17 and thereabove the beams 19 which are of greater length than the beam 17 and these beams 19 have secured to their outer ends the flat springs 20 which are adapted to engage the fastening means 21 of a second mail bag 22, said secondmail bag being held in such a position as to be contacted with and caught by the collecting fork 23 carried by the car 1. To effectually brace the beams 17 and the beams 19 an intermediate vertical beam 24 is secured to the beams 19 intermediate their length and to the beams 17 adjacent its outer or free end.

The lower end of the mast 18 is mount-ed in a plate 25 which is rotatably fixed to a plate 26 resting on a base or support 27. The plate 25 is provided with the reinforcing flanges 28 and pivotally secured to one of 28 and movable in a vertical plane is a lever 29 having a depending finger 30 adapted to pass through an opening 31 in the plate and through one of the openings 32 in the plate 26. The openings 32 are so positioned that when the finger is in engagement with one of the openings, the crane will be held in an operative position but when it is in engagement with the second opening 32 the crane is held away from a passlng car.

Any means may be employed for gaining access to the upper beams 19 to apply the bag 22 but it has been found best to employ any Well known form of step-ladder 33, it being understood that it is desirable that the crane be swung to an inoperative position when the bag is applied.

I claim:

1. In combination with a car having an opening; a frame secured to one side of the opening, a ,U-shaped frame passing through the first named frame, the stems of the frame projecting outwardly, rollers mounted within the first named frame on which the stems of the U-shaped frame rest, engaging means carried by the outer ends of the stems and a spring secured at one end to the top of the first named frame, said spring being provided with a hook to engage a corner of the U-shaped frame.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination of a base, a plate carried by the base, said plate having openings therein, a mast, a plate on one end of the mast pivotally mounted to the plate of the base, said' plate having reinforcing flanges and being provided with an opening, a lever pivoted to one of the reinforcing flanges anda finger on the lever adapted to pass through the opening of the plate of the mast and through a registering opening of the plate of the base.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ARTHUR O. ROMMEL. 

